Why did you not choose a cabinet from the same company who makes your amp?

I am curious what makes some people choose a cabinet from another company other than the company who made their amp. Typically if you like an Eden, SWR, Mesa, or Ampeg, you choose the amp because you like the character it has. Normally the store sell the cabinet which is connected to the amp from the same company. Do you find the cabinet of the same company not provide you with the sound you want?

Persoanlly if I want a Ampeg sound I want the ampeg cabinet with the Ampeg amp because it gives you the full Ampeg sound. Not to mention when they design an amo, they test it with the cabients that they make.mNow perhaps you find the Ampeg cabinet lacking a tone your looking for. Perhaps the cabinet was too expensive? granted some may have the cabinet they want and they purchased more than one head so they may stick with the same cabinet with all their bass heads.

SirMjac28Patiently Waiting For The Next British InvasionGold Supporting Member

Fender's newer line of heads are great but their newer cabs aren't anything special and I think you hit the nail on the head with some matching cabs being more expensive than other better sounding alternatives.

For me it was price. I bought a used cab and bought a new amp. But it worked out great.

Click to expand...

Yeah, same here... Bought a new amp head (hartke lh500) and a used cab (peavey tvx410). Had sold my old head (peavey tour 700) for tattooing equipment three years ago when my last band split up due to a violently dysfunctional alcoholic of a guitard. Still had the old cab because, well, it was a behringer 4x10 that was worth jack. it was alright, but not really anything to write home about, sold it and bought the tvx which sounds great.

Price is gonna be a huge factor. Especially for bassists on a budget. I bought both my head and cab used for right around three hundred. I got me a GK Frontline 600 and an SWR 1x10. Sure, I would've loved to get a GK cab to match, but they only had new ones and they were out of my price range. But it all worked out. The rig sounds great! I might even add another cab and have a full stack. I might even get a totally different brand and make a triple mix and match stack!

Line 6(I use a modified XTLive) and QSC(2402 amps here) don't make cabinets I like.
ACME, SWR, and Seismic cabinets are here.

I DO use a Behringer BX1200 kickback(Hartke semi-clone) and it's 12" aluminum speaker as a mid-high floor monitor by itself when I KNOW the provided FOH has great subs and a great drummer's monitor(I get lows from those, works nicely).

I have a Mesa M9 Carbine. Their cabinets are just way too heavy for me. I have 2 Hartke AK410's that are much lighter and sound awesome. I'd have bought the Mesa's if they were as light as the Hartke's. (price was not an issue, but the Hartke's were way cheaper = bonus)

I am curious what makes some people choose a cabinet from another company other than the company who made their amp. Typically if you like an Eden, SWR, Mesa, or Ampeg, you choose the amp because you like the character it has. Normally the store sell the cabinet which is connected to the amp from the same company. Do you find the cabinet of the same company not provide you with the sound you want?

Persoanlly if I want a Ampeg sound I want the ampeg cabinet with the Ampeg amp because it gives you the full Ampeg sound. Not to mention when they design an amo, they test it with the cabients that they make.mNow perhaps you find the Ampeg cabinet lacking a tone your looking for. Perhaps the cabinet was too expensive? granted some may have the cabinet they want and they purchased more than one head so they may stick with the same cabinet with all their bass heads.

Click to expand...

A cabinet is usually just a simple box with some holes in, the speaker housed within it is usually made by a completely unconnected independent manufacturer and usually, the only input to the design of that part the bass guitar amp brand has is to do with, is printed labels.
So if you want to have matching labels fine! but its not a priority to me
as I tend to listen to a loudspeaker cabinets tone quite separately to listening to amps tone and get the best of each. And then see how they work together.
When I bought my original Ampeg SVT 115 cabs you could go with the stock drivers (usually made by Chicago Telephone systems), or choose optional speaker upgrades from Altec Lansing.
Today Ampeg uses Eminence so maybe that's what should really be written on the cabinet as well as Ampeg.

I also use Low Down Sound for cabinet builds. Don is a great guy to deal with. I prefer dealing with a small builder or small company.

I like Ashdown heads. I think the ABM line is as close as a hybrid can get to sounding like an all tube head. Used to have an Ashdown cabinet, the blue line speakers were junk and two of the magnets literally fell of the drivers. From what I've read and experienced, those speakers are very cheap. They also came out with a neo line. But their 810 cost around $2000 and weighed more than their ceramic magnet line, which makes no sense. They also recently came out with a class D version of their ABM line. But they put it in a huge heavy wooden box, which defeats the purpose of buying a lightweight head. Looks nice, but not at all lightweight. Also they charge a ton for it.

But their standard ABM line is great, will never play a cab of theirs again.

I am curious what makes some people choose a cabinet from another company other than the company who made their amp. Typically if you like an Eden, SWR, Mesa, or Ampeg, you choose the amp because you like the character it has. Normally the store sell the cabinet which is connected to the amp from the same company. Do you find the cabinet of the same company not provide you with the sound you want?

Persoanlly if I want a Ampeg sound I want the ampeg cabinet with the Ampeg amp because it gives you the full Ampeg sound. Not to mention when they design an amo, they test it with the cabients that they make.mNow perhaps you find the Ampeg cabinet lacking a tone your looking for. Perhaps the cabinet was too expensive? granted some may have the cabinet they want and they purchased more than one head so they may stick with the same cabinet with all their bass heads.

Click to expand...

Not all of us bought our amps or cabs new in stores.

Both my amp and my cab are discontinued models, and have been for decades. The person I bought my amp from wasn't selling a cab, he was only selling an amp.

I'm not looking to get any particular company's sound. I want MY sound.

For me it was back and shoulder issues that required a featherweight stack. Super light custom or boutique cabs are available but very pricey and I'm just a hobby player, plus I'm a DIY'er so I built a pair of 20-ish pound 112s and couldn't be happier with the tone/weight/cost:

Eminence Basslites (4 pounds), 12mm sandeply with internal cross bracing and a tweeter/crossover in the top cab only = 42 pound stack. Cloth grills save about a pound per cab compared to steel.